Do I Have IBS?
Melissa G. Hunt, Aaron T. Beck in Reclaim Your Life From IBS, 2022
Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI) is a condition in which the pancreas doesn’t produce enough of the enzymes that help with certain aspects of digestion. Most people know that the pancreas makes insulin, which is crucial to managing glucose or blood sugar. But few people know that the pancreas also makes a number of digestive enzymes, including amylase (which breaks down carbohydrates), lipase (which breaks down fats), and protease and elastase (which break down proteins). If you can’t break down food, it passes through the intestines partially undigested, which can result in abdominal pain, gas, bloating, diarrhea (typically), or constipation, and, if it’s severe, weird poop that looks pale and oily, and can smell bad and sometimes floats (because there’s too much fat in it). One of the main causes of EPI is chronic pancreatitis, so if you’ve ever experienced even one incident of pancreatitis, it’s worth being tested for EPI. The easiest test for EPI is a stool test called the fecal elastase test (FE-1). Elastase is one of the digestive enzymes. If there is little or no elastase in your stool, that can indicate EPI.
Digestive and Metabolic Actions of Dopamine
Nira Ben-Jonathan in Dopamine, 2020
The pancreas is composed of two structurally and functionally distinct glands that cohabit in one organ [41]. The bulk of the pancreas is made of exocrine cells that produce digestive enzymes, while the islets of Langerhans produce several hormones, primarily associated with glucose metabolism, as discussed later in this chapter. Digestive enzymes produced by the exocrine pancreas include amylase, lipase, phospholipase, trypsinogen, and chymotrypsinogen. The latter two are proteolytic enzymes that are synthesized as inactive zymogens to prevent autodigestion and are activated by cleavage in the intestines. The pancreatic exocrine cells release their secretory products into small ducts that join to form the main pancreatic duct running along the length of the pancreas. The pancreatic duct merges with the bile duct in the head of the pancreas, and the content of both is released directly into the duodenum.
Hyperthermia in oncology and nontoxic integrative treatments
Clifford L. K. Pang, Kaiman Lee in Hyperthermia in Oncology, 2015
Most patients diagnosed with cancer often suffer from digestive disorders. The destroyed digestive function can impact the effect of nutritional auxiliary therapy. If the body cannot deliver food nutrients effectively to the small intestines for absorption, any food, regardless of how nutritious it is, is useless. Digestive enzymes play an important role in this process and even though they cannot affect the cancer directly, they can help the body to digest the nutrients more effectively so as to prevent nutritional deficiencies. A study in America shows that the digestive enzymes can not only help cancer patients absorb carbohydrates and proteins from small intestine mucosa but also improve the digestive function of healthy groups, of which protease has the most significant effect.
Nutrition Intake and Nutrition Status of Pancreatic Cancer Patients: Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Analysis of a Randomized Controlled Exercise Intervention Study
Published in Nutrition and Cancer, 2022
Dorothea Clauss, Ingeborg Rötzer, Christine Tjaden, Thilo Hackert, Joachim Wiskemann, Karen Steindorf
The pancreas is closely involved in the metabolism of food and nutrients through the production of digestive enzymes and the secretion of hormones (insulin, glucagon) (1). Digestive enzymes are essential for the digestion and the utilization of nutrients. These metabolic processes can be affected by a disease of the pancreas (2). In patients with pancreatic cancer, the production of digestive enzymes is often reduced, disrupted, or no longer present, leading to maldigestion and malabsorption (3). The 52–88% of postoperative pancreatic cancer patients showed a medium–high risk of malnutrition (4). Malnutrition is associated with poorer prognosis (5). Many pancreatic cancer patients also suffer from symptoms including abdominal pain or nausea during eating, early satiety, vomiting and diarrhea, or constipation (6) that often result in an inadequate nutritional intake and absorption. In addition, many patients report a significant weight loss already at diagnosis (7, 8). Due to those physical and metabolic effects of the cancer and due to the effects of anticancer therapies, pancreatic cancer patients are at higher risk of malnutrition in the course of their disease history (9).
Enzyme therapy: a forerunner in catalyzing a healthy society?
Published in Expert Opinion on Biological Therapy, 2020
Saptashwa Datta, K Narayanan Rajnish, C George Priya Doss, S. Melvin Samuel, E. Selvarajan, Hatem Zayed
Irritable bowel syndrome is a group of gastrointestinal disorders characterized by disruption of proper gastric and intestinal function, leading to abdominal pain and irregular and irritable bowel movements. This is a very common disorder that causes substantial physical and emotional distress, thus impairing quality of life [103]. Inflammatory bowel disease is characterized by chronic gastrointestinal inflammation leading to damage of the mucosal surface of the gastrointestinal lining. This can lead to a variety of phenotypes, such as fatigue, diarrhea, severe abdominal pain, work disability, and mortality. Moreover, a significant correlation between depression and inflammatory bowel disease has been observed [104]. A mixture of beta-glucan, inositol, and digestive enzymes has been observed clinically to improve the quality of life of patients suffering from irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease. Beta glucans are immunomodulators, and inositol has been observed to restore intestinal function by stimulating contraction of the gastrointestinal tract. The breakdown of macromolecules into simpler forms in the stomach is catalyzed by digestive enzymes; this, in turn, facilitates better absorption of ingested food. People who underwent this therapy for 4 weeks reported reductions in abdominal pain, bloating, and flatulence, leading to significant improvement in patient quality of life [105].
Identification of mite-specific eosinophils in the colon of patients with ulcerative colitis
Published in Autoimmunity, 2022
Shu-Wang Peng, Jiang-Ming Sheng, Bai-Sui Feng, Ke-Ping Peng, Gui-Xiang Tian, Cheng-Bai Liang, Ming-Hui Liu, Hai-Qing Xie, Qing Shu, Yan Li, Ping-Chang Yang
Previous reports indicate that HDM is detected in the intestinal samples [3]. Our recent studies also found that HDM-derived enolase protein induced neutrophilic inflammation in the mouse intestine [19]. The present data show that HDM also can be detected in the stool of both UC patients and NC subjects. The gastrointestinal tract is known to have various digestive enzymes. The event that HDM isolated from stool samples can be detected by Western blotting and ELISA demonstrate the bio activity of HDM. There are numerous immune cells in the colon tract. HDM can come into contact with immune cells to induce immune inflammation in the colon [3,19,20]. This reasoning is backed up by current data. By exposing to HDM in the culture or in the colon, Eos were activated by HDM, and released inflammatory mediators, MBP and ECP. As such, future studies may focus on the removal of HDM from the intestinal tract to reduce HDM-related inflammation in local tissues. This may be beneficial for patients sensitized to HDM, or/and prevent the development of HDM-specific immune inflammation [20].